Sirhan Hotel Van

... I argued wıth the man (ın Englısh) sayıng no way ım payıng a second tıme. I paıd for a trıp, ım entıtled to one and I havent taken ıt. I could understand ıf todays bus ıs full but I can tell that ıt ısnt as there were not many people waıtıng there, so ıt wouldnt have made any dıfference. It attracted the attentıon of some of the other men (who seem to run the ...

... is carved out from solid rock. After we toured the castle we got a lift from it to the main road, just in time to wave down a bus which took us back to Van free of charge. By 1600 we were there. We took a minibus to the university campus N of the city by the lake and found out that there were nothing to see and nobody to talk to. That seemed to be a fitting ending of these 4 not-too-meaningful days we spent by the shore of Lake Van.

... all about carpets--I'd say the carpets and kilims I have seen here in the east are more interesting. That's the only word I can think of right now. They are perhaps cheaper, too. I don't know, because I don't price them, always telling these fellows I have no intention to buy anything. In fact I'm now joking to them that I've seen so many carpets in Turkey that they ought to be giving them away as souvenirs to tourists.<br><br>After some more chat over tea I said I'd be on ...

... so this was a bit of new experience for me. By the time we set off I was getting hot and cold flushes which weren't much fun, but did at least take my mind off my knotted up stomach a little. On board the bus the steward was kind enough to give me a seat on my own so that I could stretch out and get a few hours sleep (7 of the 8 hours as it turned out!), and a Tweety Bird pillow to cuddle up to &#8211; I'm not sure he gets too many adult patients on that route.<br><br ...

... number of people holding it all together by whatever means they can, but i have to say nothing has worried me as these people work very hard indeed to put bread on the table.<br><br>Caught the local mini bus back and sat at the back with 2 young girls in the their beautiful head scarves. they gave me a red rose - how lovely.<br><br>Another fantastic meal out and enjoyment of the city at night.<br><br>Breakfast was excellent a large bowl of honey for all to dip in!

... the begýnnýng of the last century, so the government funded restoratýon of the Island ýs a good step ýn ýmprovýng relatýons between the two. The Turkýsh-Armenýan border, however, ýs stýll closed, otherwýse I defýnýtely would have taken a bus to výsýt Armenýa. After the Island we went to see the Van cats, whých was by far and away a dýsapoýntment. The breed of cat ýs unýque to the regýon and famous for havýng two dýfferent color eyes and lovýng water, among other ...

... of a logical reason. While the boxes of candy were being checked by the soldiers, our passports were verified and we even had to fill out some security form. This time the delay was "only" 1 hour. Shortly after we left, we hit another friggin checkpoint. I had no idea how many more we were going to hit between here and Van. From 10 to 2, we hit 3 checkpoints. Within those 4 hours, we drove for less than 2. We were less than 150 kms away from the ...

... We questioned whether we should have taken our bags with us but we just decided to keep them on the bus and only get them if we were asked by the Iranian officials. There wasn't much of an issue getting out of Iran although the immigration official did ask me a lot of questions. I didn't know what the point was now that I was leaving. He even asked if I was a journalist. I said no but I knew why he was asking. I then walked over to the Turkish side with Miles ...

... The Turks have created a cult of personality around Attaturk, displaying large statues, or outlines of his face on the sides of mountains overlooking cities along with huge signs saying "I'm glad to be a Turk' etc. All this in areas with 90% Kurdish population. In addition, we've seen one picture frame with a plaster-cast imprint of Attaturk's face. In the far reaches of eastern Turkey there are numerous military ...

... and writer, this irks me. However, somewhere along the way a little gent by the name of Adnan fell into pace with me, and guided me to the otogar. (Fortunately, it seemed to be across the street from where he was going anyway).<br><br><br><br> As my plan is to next travel through some little-frequented country I decided to not spend any more time in the Van area, though there is much to see. I'll have to return another time.